Thinking+Deeper

media type="custom" key="4276949" ** White Hat  ** What are the facts about this issue?

Josephine and Stephanie: We know that plastic takes about one million years to completely biodegrade, so we have recycling plants, where we can recycle the plastic, instead of throwing it all away. This means that the landfills aren't all completely full with plastic. (They still do have plastic though, which is a shame.) Although lots of people are trying to look for a way for all plastics to be biodegradable and recyclable, we still need to do something while the research continues.

**Red Hat** How are your feelings towards this issue? Why do you feel this way?

Josephine: I feel quite annoyed about the fact that people still continue throwing away plastic as well as littering when they are completely aware of the negative impact it could have on the environment. I think that these people cannot be bothered to look after the place which we take granted for. After all, we do LIVE here. What happens if we completely destroy the few resources that we have left? It is only then, I think, that the message will really get across to the stubborn minds of us. It is humans which do this deed, and it is humans which can undo it. Stephanie: We use plastic a bit too much and although it may be saving animals from extinction by not using ivory or wood, we still dispose of it incorrectly, which makes it just as bad. Without throwing away plastic properly, we are endangering the animals, because they might mistake it as food. Maybe we can compromise the use of plastic and natural resources, or attempt to find a reusable or biodegradable plastic.

**Black Hat** What are the negative points of this issue?

Josephine: There are lots of things that are bad about this issue. One thing is that we are ruining the environment because of our careless actions in which we do not even consider nature's "health." Some people may be researching a biodegradable and recyclable type of plastic but until then we still have to be careful of where we discard wrappings and bottles. Even then, do we still have to think about how we use and throw away plastic.

Stephanie: There are quite a few bad things about plastic. For example, plastic is not biodegradable and even if it is, it will take a long time time for them to biodegrade. Although people know that plastic is not biodegradable people still throw out plastic to be recycled while we could be reusing plastic instead of trying to recycle them.

** Green Hat ** What are some possible things that you could do to address this issue in our community?

Josephine:I'm sure that everyone is aware of this issue to some degree, though only a few people are trying to do something about changing the use and disposal of plastic. We could also put up posters, though I'm not sure it will help much.

Stephanie: We could put up posters and talk to people we feel comfortable speaking with to tell them what we have learnt from the inquiry and how we could change the world. Then telling them we tell them to pass it on. In this way, the information will spread. We could also give out brochures with some information about plastic on it.

What are the positive things about this issue?
 * Yellow Hat **

Josephine:There aren't many positive points about this issue, really. But one thing for sure is that it makes us think up of ways to make plastic recyclable and biodegradable. In the future it could turn out either good or bad, depending on what we actually do to help the environment.

Stephanie: Plastic is bad for the environment but if the scientists of people could invent a way to make plastic recyclable and biodegradable, the world will change. If not then we might need to use more natural resources such as wood. But what happens in the future really depends on what we do now.

What thinking is needed? What have we done so far? What do we do next?
 * Blue Hat **

Josephine and Stephanie: Each hat is needed for a different reason in the Inquiry. Which were used for the different parts?

The White Hat is the facts, which were mainly needed for answering questions in the area which we investigate the answers to the questions.

The Red Hat is the feelings and opinions. We used this Hat in some of the questions and in most of the //Thinking Deeper// stage.

The Black Hat is the negative details. We used this to answer some of the questions involving the environmental issues.

The Yellow Hat is the positive details in this issue. We used this to answer some of the questions involving the use of plastic and the qualities of plastic.

The Green Hat is where we try to think about how we can address this issue to the community. This hat is used in the //Presentation// and //So What?!// stage.